This Path I Chose
by hourglassthorne
Summary: Of all the people who could have been a TURK, Elena seemed the most unlikely person to don the black suit. What could have happened to motivate her towards the Shinra beaten path. A series of drabbles & short stories...
1. 24 Years Ago: Midgar

_**Disclaimer:** I do not make any legal claim to any character or setting described within this or any fanwork I create. These are the property of SquareEnix._

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**24 years ago: Midgar**

"Wait! Veld sir! Please wait! The fire's too intense!"

"Don't you tell me to wait! That's my family in there! Amara! Devon! Sean! Elena!"

"Oh god... I can't believe those bastards did this... It's too cruel."

"Veld, sir! I hear crying! Someone's still alive!"

"Elena? Elena!"

"...Sir... In the back garden... We've found your family, but..."

"...I'm sorry sir... They've been gone too long. The phoenix downs aren't bringing them back..."

"I'm sorry, Elena. I'm so sorry."


	2. Age 15: Icicle Inn

_**Disclaimer:** I do not make any legal claim to any character or setting described within this or any fanwork I create. These are the property of SquareEnix._

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**Age 15: Icicle Inn**

Though she has her father's eyes, nearly everything else about Elena belongs to her mother. Her long blond hair... Her smile... Her kind heart coupled with a stubborn, tough-as-nails spirit.

Maybe that's why Veld, commander of the TURKS, finds it so difficult to visit her nowadays. Though he treasures every careful spare moment he steals away from work in order to visit her, hidden away in the remote town of Icicle Inn, the length of time between visits grows increasingly longer.

It used to be only a week, maybe two, between visits when she was a child of five. Now a decade later, it's become six months since she last saw her father's face.

Though she wishes she could see him more, Elena doesn't complain. She's old enough now to know what her father does for a living, as well as what being a Turk has cost him in the distant past.

She knows the reason she can't remember her mother's loving embrace, or the twin older brothers who used to love making her giggle and laugh when she was a baby. Though she never tells her father about it when he comes for his rare visits, she often has nightmares about what happened that awful day. She doesn't understand how, seeing as how she was only a year old when it had happened, but she reasons that there are some things even a baby would be hard pressed to truly forget.

"Here's your tea, Daddy," she says as she sets down the cup on the desk next to a large stack of Veld's paperwork. Even when spending time with his daughter, the old man always brought his work home with him. "Lemme guess, it's evaluation time again, isn't it? Or maybe new recruits?" Sweeping her hair out of her face, she idly opens up the top folder, and her eyes light up.

"Oh wow, this one's cute," she exclaims softly as she deftly plucks the staff photo from its page she can hold it closer to the light. "Wutaian, right? I wonder if he ever smiles." The teenage girl giggles. "He looks so serious." Elena had a teasing, flirty lilt to her voice.

"Elena, please," Veld sighed as he reached over and took the photo back from his daughter, who made a short sound of protest. "Just put those thoughts out of your head right this instant. Have you already forgotten what I've told you?"

"Oh Daddy, not this lecture again," the girl groans with a roll of her eyes. "It's not like I'm planning on marching straight into Midgar and falling in madly love with the first guy in a black suit and a ShinRa ID card I come across. I was just saying that this--" Elena glanced at the name on the still open folder. "--Tseng is good looking, is all."

"I'm serious, Elena," the old man said sternly, turning in his desk chair so he could look his daughter in the eye as he waved the photo at her. "Don't you ever get involved with a Turk. All it'll take is one mission for them to break your heart or worse."

"Daddy..."

Veld held up his hand to stop Elena's protest before it could begin. He glanced at Tseng's photo, then set it face down upon the desk before rising up from his seat. The old man's hand found his daughter's cheek and for once the harsh look in his eyes softened. "Elena... You've got so much potential. The entire world is yours for the taking, and I don't want to see your spirit and dreams shattered anymore by tragedy. A Turk's life is darker and more dangerous than you could ever imagine, and it destroys lives and happiness as easily as crushing an insect or a blade of grass."

Elena met his gaze and she felt her heart ache for her father. "I understand, Daddy," she murmured softly.

"All I want is for you to be happy."

"I am happy, Daddy, especially when I get to spend time with you. I miss you."

Veld's normally iced over heart melted at his little girl's words and he drew her into a warm embrace. "I miss you too."


	3. Age 18: Kalm

_**Disclaimer:** I do not make any legal claim to any character or setting described within this or any fanwork I create. These are the property of SquareEnix._

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**Age 19: Kalm**

The winter funeral was a small, quiet, stately affair. Even in death, Turks made certain to take great care of their own, especially when the man being laid to rest was a commander who'd been the only leader they'd ever known. Normally the only ones who would be present at these somber events would be whatever Turks were not currently on assignment.

Normally...

The Turks bearing Veld's coffin to the cemetery in Kalm were surprised to find General Heidigger waiting for them there, along with a slender young woman no older than maybe nineteen or twenty. She wore a somber, but stylish black dress and bore a bouquet of white flowers in her arms. Her long blonde hair was pinned neatly back, though the true radiance of its color was muted by the black lace veil which fell over it and her face.

Though caught off-guard by the presence of the General (who never attended a Turk funeral before in recent memory) and the strange girl, the Turks proceeded as they were supposed to, laying the coffin down and holding a short service.

At the end of it though, before the casket was lowered into the ground, the portly General ordered the Turks to wait. An angry protest started to rise up, but it was quickly quelled after Heidigger whispered something to a few of the higher ranking members in attendence, who in turn ordered their subordinates to give the girl her peace.

_"What's going on? Who the hell does that girl think she is?"_

_"Bite your tongue. Heidigger says that's Veld's daughter."_

_"His daughter? I didn't know the commander had any family."_

_"You'd never think it after all his lectures about not getting into relationships and how he'll personally sack us if we ever get married or have kids."_

_"Was he being a hypocrite?"_

_"Y'know, I heard a rumor once he lost his wife and kids as part of some terrorist retalliation against some mission he ran back when he was our age, but I always thought that there were no survivors."_

_"Well think about it... If terrorists thought they killed all your family, but really missed one, wouldn't you want to do everything you could to keep that one hidden and safe?"_

_"Yeah... I guess it makes lots of things about the commander make sense now that you think about it."_

As the Turks whispered among themselves, the veiled girl laid her flowers upon the casket and knelt down beside it. Though her words could not be heard, it was clear she was whispering something for her father's ears only. When she was done, she placed a reverant kiss on top of the lid , rose back up to her feet, and nodded to Heidigger, who stepped back up and started to escort her out of the cemetary.

She paused, though, as she came up to the Turks who had stepped aside to allow her some privacy. Because of the intricate lacework of veil, her distinguishing features were mostly hidden, and unless one was standing right in her face, they would be hard pressed to see even the color of her eyes. She stood there for a long moment, running her gaze down the line of black suits who came to honor her father. She lingered her gaze on certain individuals she knew for years only from files and pictures. Even though she never met a single one in person before this day, she felt like they were a part of her family...

Her gaze especially lingered on one Wutaian individual whose striking familiar features helped stand him out from the rest.

Her father's favorite...

And still very handsome...

Politely, without a word, the veiled girl bowed respectfully to them all, silently thanking them for taking such good care of her father. Then she rejoined General Heidigger and allowed him to continue escorting her out of the cemetery.


	4. Age 17: Icicle Inn

_**Disclaimer:** I do not make any legal claim to any character or setting described within this or any fanwork I create. These are the property of SquareEnix._

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**Age 17: Icicle Inn**

"Why!" The angry demand was yelled at Veld again within the confines of the small cottage. Though he normally would have no trouble dealing with a person yelling all manners of things at him, especially with the things he'd experienced working for ShinRa, the old man was having an incredibly hard time meeting the furious gaze of his only daughter. Elena had seemed to grow up overnight from an innocent young girl to a strikingly beautiful woman who looked the striking image of her mother.

The only difference was in her eyes. Whereas Amara had very kind and gentle blue eyes, Elena's were the same light brown color as his and currently reflecting a lifetime of deep bitterness and pain.

"Elena, you know that I can't visit you that often--"

"No, Dad," the angry teenager cut in rudely, her hands on her hips. "In order to say that, you have to have some recent history of visiting me at all!"

"Now Elena, I've visited--"

"Nine months!" the girl shouted again. "Nine months since the last time I saw you. You promised me last time you'd visit more often, and instead you do the exact opposite!" Her foot met the floor and the sound of the heel of her boots seemed to echo off the walls. "What is wrong with you! Why is it impossible for you to keep your promises! Do you even care about what happens to me!"

Veld's eyes became pained, but he tried to keep a rein on his emotions. "Of course I care about you, Ele--"

"Then why don't you show it!" Bitter tears were beginning to whell up in Elena's eyes, but she dared not let them fall yet. "All my life I've had to tell my friends and everyone I've ever known that I'm an orphan, that both my parents died when I was a little girl. And you know what's really sick is when I've told that lie so many times I almost start to believe it myself."

The old man was at a complete loss for words, really. He loved his daughter very much and seeing her in this much pain cut him straight to the quick. He tried to figure out what to say, but every time he opened his mouth his words seemed to die in his throat.

Elena obviously misinterpreted this inability to speak for something more negative. She shook her head, a look of grief written all over her face as she took a few steps backwards away from him. "I can't stand it. I just can't anymore!" She bowed her head and tears began to finally fall from her eyes. "Sometimes I really wish I was dead instead of alone in this place. At least if I was, I know I'd be with people who I knew loved and cared about me!"

More than anything else she'd yelled at him this night, those words in particular were like a dagger to Veld's heart. "But Elena... I do--"

"Just go," the girl whispered softly, a faint tremble running through her body as she tried to keep from breaking down completely in front of the man who was little more than a stranger to her, as far as she was concerned. "Please, just leave like you always do and don't come back..."

"Elena..." Veld reached out to try and place his hand on the girl's shoulder, but she viciously slapped it away, finally staring him straight in the eyes with a tear-filled glare.

"No! As far as I'm concerned, as long as you wear that suit I don't have a father! As long as you're a Turk, you and I are strangers and I never want to see you again!"

Not waiting to see if her father had anything else to say in his defense, Elena whirled about and ran up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door with enough force to rattle the picture frames on the walls.

It was several hours later when Elena finally woke up. She rubbed her eyes and winced at her sore throat. The girl had literally cried herself to sleep there curled up on her bed and by the time she'd woken up the sun had already set. The strange thing was, the light from her lamp within the room was on and she knew she didn't turn it on earlier.

"Daddy?" Her voice was soft and small as she looked around. Any anger and frustration she may have had earlier had bled away with her tears so that only a painful ache remained in the middle of her chest.

Quietly, Elena stepped out of her room and noticed that the house was quite comfortably warm for the middle of the night in the eternally winterbound Icicle Inn. She stepped down the stairs and peered over the banister tenatively. "Daddy?" she called again as she reached the first floor. The fireplace had a blazing fire, and looked like it had been burning for hours. The scent of a premade dinner could also be detected from the oven in the kitchen, but for all the signs of life, there was no sign of anyone within the house. As a weight settled into Elena's heart, she went to the front doors and opened it up, a sensation of dread at what she knew she would find.

It was just as Elena feared. The chocobo Veld had used to ride up to Icicle Inn from the coast was gone and had been for several hours, if the way the newfallen snow had covered its tracks were any indication.

Though she would've thought she'd run all out of tears earlier, Elena found herself crying again as she sank to her knees while sliding weakly against the doorframe.

"Daddy... I'm sorry, Daddy. Please come back. Don't leave me alone again... Please..."


	5. Age 18: Via PHS

_**Disclaimer:** I do not make any legal claim to any character or setting described within this or any fanwork I create. These are the property of SquareEnix._

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**Age 18: Via PHS**

:incoming call... unknown number... connect(y/n):  
:(y):

"Hello?"

"_Elena?" _

"...Daddy? Daddy is that you?"  
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"Yes angel. It's me."_

"God! Do you have any idea how long it's been!"  
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"Elena I'm sorry, I—"_

"Nonono... It's ok Daddy. I'm just glad to hear your voice."

"_No. It's not ok, Elena. We both know it. That's part of why I'm calling."_

"Daddy? What's going on?"  
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"I'm retiring."_

"..."

"_Elena? Are you there? "_

"...I'm sorry, Daddy... For a moment I could've sworn you just said—"

"_I did. I'm leaving ShinRa and TURKS. I'll be home before the end of the month."_

"..."

"_Oh now... Don't cry Elena..."_

"I'm sorry Daddy... I'm just so happy. I've missed you so much."

"_And I you, angel. There's so much I have to make up for. I'm sorry Elena. "_

"It's ok Daddy. I forgive you. Soon as you get home we can start making new, happier memories to make up for all the time we've lost. Maybe we can even move someplace else and make a fresh start of everything? I hear Rocket Town is really nice, and much warmer than Icicle Inn. Or maybe even Mideel? I've never been down to the islands before."  
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"We'll see. For now I have to go. One of my men's just arrived. We'll continue this conversation later, alright?"_

"Sure, Daddy. I'll keep my PHS on me at all times. Call me whenever you get the chance. I love you, Daddy."

:call disconnected:


	6. Age 24: Healing Lodge

_Disclaimer: I do not make any legal claim to any character or setting described within this or any fanwork I create. These are the property of SquareEnix._

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**Age 24: Healing Lodge**

"Hold on Mr. President! We've got you!"

"Elena! Get the hell outta the way!"

"But Reno?"

"NOW!"

In the middle of the hallway of the Healing Lodge, the youngest of the Turks came to a halt and stood there watching as Reno continued to jog alongside the doctors. She knew she shouldn't feel that way, but hearing Reno yell at her like that as they wheeled Rufus on the gurney into the operating room struck a painful chord in her, and for the first time since news of Tseng's death Elena felt like breaking down into tears.

"Don't let him get to you," a calm, stoic voice said behind her a moment before she felt the strong grip on her shoulder. "Reno's just scared for Rufus and guilty that we didn't go along with you in the first place. You did good today."

Elena tilted her head up to look at Rude before nodding silently. Meteor had been about to fall and though they knew that Avalanche was fighting Sephiroth in the Northern Crater, the three of them agreed that Midgar was a lost cause. By that time, it hadn't been a case of "if" the mighty city would crumble beneath the destructive force from the heavens as much as "when".

However, despite agreeing that evacuating the city was the necessary, Elena wouldn't leave... at least not immediately.

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_"You're insane! What the hell do you think you're going to find out there? Diamond Weapon completely destroyed the upper floors of HQ! There's no chance that anyone survived, especially not him!"_

_"I'm not going to find survivors, Reno. I'm going to find him."_

_"You idiot! Rufus is dead and the rest of the city is going that way within a day or two. Why are you going back there to risk your life to bring back a corpse!"_

_"Because when Tseng died, we promised to take care of Rufus, and just because we failed to save his life doesn't mean we're finished taking care of him. I left Tseng behind at the Temple! I should've stayed or gone back to bring him out before it collapsed! Because I left him behind, we didn't even have his body to bury properly! I won't let Rufus go the same way!"_

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Elena hadn't been certain, too caught up in her own emotions to really pay attention, but looking back, she could've sworn that she saw Reno nearly break down right there in frontn of her before he stiffened up and told her to go ahead and get herself killed for the dead if that's what she wanted. Rude at least wished her good luck, but he wouldn't go with her either, wanting to stay behind and make sure that his partner didn't do anything stupid in her absence. Rufus's death seemed to be hitting Reno hardest of all of them, and something about the way Rude apologized afterwards for the redhead tearing into her that day before the pair left for Junon made her think that perhaps there was more between Reno and Rufus than she originally knew about.

All those thoughts went out the window, though, when she found Rufus alive in the remains of the twisted penthouse office of Shinra HQ. He was close to death, to be sure. There would have been no way the young could survive another day in the state he was in, with his injuries and loss of blood.

However he was not dead yet.

The Turk had been shocked, but not so much so that she didn't move to immediate action. She'd called Reno and Rude and told them to get the hell back to the city. Afterwards she had forced her herself to the point of exhaustion casting multiple high level Cure spells to stablize Rufus enough to start carefully moving him from the remains of his office to what was left of the roof. It had been a very tense time waiting for Rude and Reno to appear, but eventually they picked the two of them up with a helicopter they'd borrowed from the military base.

And now here they all were at the Healing Lodge. There was still no guarantee that Rufus would even survive the evening, but at least he had a better chance here than in the city that was currently marked for death.

"Elena," Rude's voice shook the girl out of her reverie. She hadn't noticed she'd spaced out and blinked up with a confused expression. "You're exhausted. Go find an empty room and get some sleep."

Though she wanted to stay with Rude just in case they got some news about Rufus's condition, Elena nodded numbly and turned to look for an empty room. She was so tired and the adrenaline rush that had been keeping her on her feet since Midgar was completely depleted.

As she rounded a corner, following a nurse's suggestion that there were some empty rooms in the long term recovery wing, the young woman stopped and rubbed her eyes in confusion. She could've sworn she just saw Reeve, of all people, coming out of one of the rooms while talking with a doctor. Confusion gave way to curiosity when the doctor moved out of her line of sight and she could clearly see that yes, it was the former head of Urban Development.

"Reeve?" Elena said warily as she approached the two men. At the sound of her voice, the man in question froze and gave her a startled expression. By now it was known that Reeve had ultimately chosen Avalanche over Shinra, and he had very good reason to be nervous about a Turk facing him down.

"Why... Elena! What a pleasant surprise," the man said nervously as he took a reflexive step back from the approaching woman. "What are you doing here? Did Reno or Rude get injured in their last fight with Avalanche?"

"No," the girl started, stopping just a couple feet away from him. "We found Rufus alive in Midgar and brought him here for treatment." Then she fixed Reeve with a suspicious look. "But what are _you _doing here? This is a hospital for Turks and Soldiers."

"Why didn't you know, young lady?" the doctor chimed in, much to Reeve's chagrin. He wanted to tell the doctor to stop, but a hard glare from Elena shut him up before he could even say a word.

"Know what?"

The doctor looked curiously from her to Reeve and back again. "Why... that your commanding officer's being treated here, of course." he said. "Mr. Tuesti brought him in a while ago with a very bad sword injury. Things were touch and go for awhile there, but now he's stablized and--"

Anything more the doctor had to say was completely forgotten as he was shoved out of the way by the small blonde woman who rushed foward to snag the lapels of Reeve's jacket and slam his back into the nearest wall.

"Tseng's alive!" Elena's voice held various tones of disbelief, anger, and relief. Though tears unshed whelled up in her eyes, she stared down Reeve as she tightened her grip on his jacket, not giving him any room for escape, not even from her piercing, accusatory gaze. "You told us he was dead, and all this time he's been alive!" The man opened his mouth to say something, but in her frustration and with her patience already worn threadbare by the events of the day, Elena pulled Reeve just far enough from the wall to slam him hard back into it, relishing the sound of his head cracking against it. "Why didn't you tell us the truth! Why did you lie to us!"

Reeve swallowed hard as stars danced in his eyes. Sure Elena was the smallest and seemed to be the least threatening of the Turks, at least in theory, but now he was forced to reassess that assumption. "I couldn't let Cait leave Tseng to die alone there at the temple, but I... I thought... keeping Tseng away from the Turks afterwards... would... would..."

"Would what!"

Reeve knew this would be painful. "...would help hasten Shinra's fall," he muttered in a whispered tone. He closed his eyes to the shocked, deadly serious glare Elena was now staring at him with. "I knew without Tseng's support, without his guidance, Rufus would not be able to handle the company. That maybe if he was allowed to fail it would be easier to work the company free from his grasp... for the Planet's sake, and the sake of the people of Midgar... I just never knew Rufus would take things as far as he--"

Elena didn't give Reeve a chance to finish explaining. The next thing the man knew, he was being kneed in the gut. As he collapsed to the ground, curled up in near blinding pain, he barely registered the words the girl was screaming at him.

"You bastard! All this time we thought he was dead and he was alive! Do you have any idea what this could have done for us? For him? For the company? For Midgar!" The girl was completely beside herself with fury, tears finally falling from her eyes. Though she was listing every other reason under the sun for the direction of her anger, within her heart Elena there was a part of herself that was aching because of how Tseng's supposed death affected her.

"Tseng could've stopped him. He could've reasoned with Rufus, made him see what he was doing was wrong." Elena shook her head. "He could've done something... anything... more than we could ever do alone..." With a grimace, the girl glared at Reeve again and gave him one final savage kick to the ribs. "You'd better not be here when I come back out, cause when I tell Reno and Rude what you've done, you can be sure they're not going to go easy on you like me."

Without another word, Elena then left Reeve and the good doctor and stepped into the room behind them.

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Though the drugs the doctor had him on were pretty powerful and kept him blissfully unaware of anything happening outside his own mind most days, including the lingering pain from the wound he received from Sephiroth, Tseng eventually woke up to an unfamiliar sensation nagging at the edges of his consciousness. Blearily, he glanced around himself, taking a moment to reassure himself of his surroundings before looking for the source of what had woken him up. When he found it, however, he paused and stared in surprise.

Her head resting on the matress next to his arm, Elena was soundly sleeping seated on the floor beside Tseng's bed. The man stared for a long moment at how the girl's delicate hand was curled lightly around his own, as if he were having a hard time comprehending how it got there in the first place. Then he let his eyes roam over the rest of the girl. Her jacket was missing, and it was clear from her general appearance that it looked like she'd gone through hell and back. Her normally well-kept hair was disheveled and her face, smudged with dust and light traces of grime, had tear tracks cutting clean paths down her cheeks.

Tseng was extremely confused and concerned as to Elena's state. Though he hadn't been lucid enough in recent days to understand everything going on in the world outside the Healing Lodge, Reeve had been assuring him that all was well on his recent visits. As Elena took a small, shuddering breath and grimaced slightly in her sleep, still suffering after effects of crying herself to sleep, Tseng felt his heart clench a little. Gingerly, he worked his hand out of the girl's loose grasp and shifted his hand so that he could gently stroke the soft blond hair. The gesture certainly wasn't enough to wake her, but it did bring a measure of visible comfort to the youngest of his Turks as he watched the tension in her weary face relax under his touch.


End file.
